Residents Fight against Construction on Asbestos Laced Ridge

A heated debate is rising in the Serrano development of El Dorado Hills, California. Residents are uniting against a proposal to build 135 new homes on a ridge containing veins of toxic asbestos. According to geologists and environmental health experts who have studied the area, carving roads and trenches into Oak Ridge will release asbestos fibers and could possibly move into the neighborhood and schools downwind.

The resident’s main concern is the danger posed to their families of contracting fatal diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, an often deadly form of cancer. Mesothelioma is caused when airborne asbestos fibers are inhaled and are lodged into the soft tissue of the lungs. It can take twenty to fifty years for cancer symptoms to appear.

The construction would take place next to homes and near sports fields at the local high school putting many at risk. However, Parker Development Co. insists that the area, even with the construction, will be as safe as it has always been. Asbestos dust controls have proved adequate in other areas of Serrano and asbestos is found in many California communities.

Asbestos control has greatly improved in the last decade. Soil must be kept wet, unearthed material must be covered, windshields installed and all construction vehicle tires are required to be washed. There is a great deal of air monitoring as well.

However, some still do not feel that the area is safe to build on. Sean Fitzgerald, a North Carolina minerals analyst warns that the less the asbestos is disturbed the safer residents will be. The residents have around a year before the El Dorado County planners will review the Oak Ridge expansion proposal.